(applauding)
- Thank you President McCartney.
I am honored to be standing in front of you
and telling you about my Smith journey.
My name is Zainab Aqdas Rizvi,
and I am a proud member of the class of 2018.
(audience applauding and cheering)
In the audience are my parents, Mama and Baba,
and my two younger brothers, Muhammad and Ali. (laughs)
(audience applauding and cheering)
And they're visiting Smith for the first time
from Karachi, Pakistan.
(audience applauding and cheering)
I am the first person in my family to go to college abroad
and I would not be standing here today
without their unwavering support,
throughout these four years.
(audience applauding and cheering)
I had never visited the United States
before applying to colleges, so reputation and word of mouth
played a major role in deciding where to apply.
At my high school's career fair,
I spoke with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, class of 2002,
also here today, and she encouraged me to consider Smith
when I expressed an interest in storytelling and journalism.
She told me about Smith's curriculum that encourages
taking classes in a variety of different disciplines.
Soon after, I decided to apply Early Decision.
Little did I know that I would fully explore
so many diverse options in the curriculum,
and go from English to double majoring
in computer science and statistical and data sciences.
(audience applauding and cheering)
I still remember the moment I received my acceptance letter.
It was in the middle of the night in Karachi,
and I had not slept a wink in anticipation of the decision.
I logged into the admissions portal
and then ran upstairs to my parents to wake them up
and to tell them the good news.
The excitement, however, came with anxiety.
I knew I wouldn't be able to attend Smith
without a generous scholarship.
I distinctly remember getting on a phone call
with the head of Student Financial Services, David Belanger,
at 3 a.m. in Karachi, to discuss the specifics
of my family's financial situation.
A few weeks later, I received the second piece
of good news, an adjusted financial aid package
that would make it possible for me and my family
to be able to afford a Smith education.
(audience applauding and cheering)
When I arrived here for my first semester,
I had already picked out four writing-intensive courses
to be on track for the English major.
My liberal arts adviser said to me,
"Zainab, I think you should try at least one STEM course
"to diversify your course load a little."
Too frightened by the hard sciences and the long labs,
I decided to take
the Introduction to Computer Science course.
I found it thrilling and even oddly empowering
to write computer programs
that would make little fish bounce on my screen.
(audience laughing)
Through the support of tutors, faculty and peers,
I was able to overcome my fear of the sciences,
and do well in my first STEM class at Smith.
As part of my work-study position, I was a peer adviser
at the Lazarus Center for Career Development.
Students around me were getting accepted to internships
ranging from start-ups to world-class research labs,
while I still couldn't decide on a major.
But soon, these students began to inspire me.
I began to wonder if I could apply for one of these
amazing and terrifying opportunities.
I applied for an internship at a financial firm
in New York City, and when I was accepted
for the Technology Summer Analyst position,
I got the confidence to challenge myself
and commit to computer science as my major.
During my sophomore year,
I was inspired to help the community do more
to address the wide gender gap
that currently exists in technology.
And so, with the support of my adviser Professor Nick Howe,
I started a Northampton chapter of Girls Who Code,
a national movement to introduce school girls
to computer science.
(audience applauding and cheering)
I also became a computer science teaching assistant
here on campus, which gave me the opportunity to interact
with other Smithies who were also considering the major.
Last summer, I was ecstatic when I was selected
to intern with Google in Mountain View, California;
(audience applauding and cheering)
however, my excitement was clouded by nervousness
about ongoing immigration issues
and work visa restrictions for foreign nationals.
I'm grateful for Sidnie Davis at Google, Class of 2008,
(audience cheering) (laughs)
who allayed my fears by working through my options
for staying in the U.S. after graduation.
This is just one of the many examples
set by the Smith community, including current students,
faculty, staff and alumnae,
where they go out of their way to help each other
when unexpected situations arise.
I remember walking into the office
of Professor Jordan Crouser, class of 2008,
(audience applauding and cheering)
one day in my junior year,
saying that I had suddenly realized that I wanted to
go to graduate school for computer science.
I knew I was behind schedule as I didn't have any research
experience but he encouraged me to maximize the time
I had remaining at Smith.
He supervised my special studies where we analyzed bias
in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
and he gave me the individual attention
I would not have received at any other institution.
I went on to do an honors thesis
with Professor Joseph O'Rourke in computational geometry
my senior year, which has been one of my
most fulfilling academic experiences at Smith.
The access to undergraduate research
allowed me to work in two very different
but interdisciplinary fields.
This summer, I will be working as a research assistant
at UPenn before joining full-time
as a software engineer at Google.
(audience applauding and cheering)
My desire to go to graduate school
for a PhD in computer science is stronger than ever
and I feel much more prepared for it.
All of my amazing experiences
have been a collaborative effort
through the larger Smith community.
The friendships I have formed here
are perhaps my biggest take-away from my four years here.
For three out of those four years,
I have had the privilege of knowing Gina Fusco
at the Lazarus Center,
who I affectionately call my Smith mom.
When I was severely ill, surrounded by nurses,
and quarantined at Cooley Dickinson Hospital,
Gina cradled me in her arms and told me I'd be okay.
I met my best friend, Suroor Gandhi,
during the 2016 election watching party.
From reading Urdu poetry together
to cramming the night before our art history final,
to dissecting New York Times articles endlessly,
or just arguing about who makes chai
that is just the right color,
(audience laughs)
Suroor, you have been an extraordinary friend,
and I hope we can be best friends forever.
(audience mutters)
The support I have received from Smith has never ceased:
from emergency root canals, thank you Dean Caitlin,
(audience applauding and cheering)
Woo!
To teaching me how to thrive
in an increasingly uncertain political climate,
to making graduate school in computer science
a possibility for someone who was too afraid
to take her first STEM course,
the opportunities I've had here
are more than I could have imagined four years ago.
I am even more excited to be part of a network
of remarkable Smithies long after I graduate.
Thank you and congratulations to the class of 2018.
(audience applauding and cheering)